Corn is an important and valuable field crop. Thus, a continuing goal of plant breeders is to develop high yielding maize hybrids that maximize the amount of grain produced with the inputs used and minimize susceptibility of the crop to environmental stresses. To accomplish that goal, the maize breeder must select and develop superior inbred parental lines for producing hybrids.
Commercial hybrid seed production, such as hybrid corn (maize, Zea mays) seed production, is an expensive and labor-intensive process. Hybrid corn seed production involves the production of male and female parent lines, and planting these in separate rows or blocks, in pollinating proximity, in an isolated field. The female parent plants must be treated to prevent pollen shed (e.g. manual or mechanical detasseling) to ensure only pollination by the male parent. Following pollination, the male parent plants must be destroyed, usually by a mechanical means, to prevent seed mixing during harvest. Ears from the cross-pollinated female parent are harvested, processed, and the hybrid seed sold to farmers for planting.
Hybrid seed yield depends in part on the efficiency of cross-pollination between the male and the female parent plants. Natural pollination occurs in maize when wind blows pollen from the tassels to the silks that protrude from the tops of the ears.
Increasing the efficiency of cross-pollination would increase the yield of the hybrid seeds in two ways: (1) Improved pollen dispersal can result in more seed produced per ear. (2) Improved pollen dispersal reduces the field area required for male parent plants and therefore increases the hybrid seed yield per unit area.
One means of increasing cross-pollination efficiency by increasing the dissemination of pollen is to use mechanical wind blowers. This wind blower is typically operated manually each day during the flowering time. Using wind blowers is tedious and time consuming, and benefits are unpredictable. The task needs to be repeated every day for 12 to 15 days, costing time and money.
It is desirable to find other means of increasing cross-pollination efficiency between the parent plants for hybrid maize production and hence increase hybrid seed yield.